Posted on 12/14/2018 5:48:46 PM PST by conservative98
(Bloomberg) -- Obamacare was struck down by a Texas federal judge in a ruling that casts uncertainty on insurance coverage for millions of U.S. residents.
The decision Friday finding the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional comes just before the end of a six-week open enrollment period for the program in 2019 and underscores a divide between Republicans who have long sought to invalidate the law and Democrats who fought to keep it in place.
U.S. District Judge Reed OConnor in Fort Worth agreed with a coalition of Republican states led by Texas that he had to eviscerate the Affordable Care Act, the signature health-care overhaul by President Barack Obama, after Congress last year zeroed out a key provision -- the tax penalty for not complying with the requirement to buy insurance. The decision is almost certain to be appealed all the way to the Supreme Court.
Todays ruling is an assault on 133 million Americans with preexisting conditions, on the 20 million Americans who rely on the ACAs consumer protections for health care, and on Americas faithful progress toward affordable health care for all Americans, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said in a statement. A spokeswoman for Becerra said an appeal will be filed before Jan. 1.
Texas and an alliance of 19 states argued to the judge that theyve been harmed by an increase in the number of people on state-supported insurance rolls. They claimed that when Congress repealed the tax penalty last year, it eliminated the U.S. Supreme Courts rationale for finding the ACA constitutional in 2012.
The Texas judge agreed.
The remainder of the ACA is non-severable from the individual mandate, meaning that the Act must be invalidated in whole, OConnor wrote.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
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Maybe RATs will now be concerned by activist judges. Heh heh!
Roberts will save Obamacare. He has no choice.
OK, that there is what you call FUNNY!
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But Nancy and Chuck so wanted to turn it in to single payer.
The tax was eliminated but the credit still exists. We have numerous tax credits that are maintained in tax law.
It was Roberts that said it was a tax. Hes in a deep corner now.
Wonder what spineless, zero character Roberts will give as the excuse to turn this ruling aside. Scum, nothing but human pond scum that one.
The Democrat House will certainly seek to reimpose the tax but its DOA in the Senate.
Checkmate.
” 133 million Americans with preexisting conditions” really?
Trump is credited with MAGA.
Trump should also be credited with MOLE.
(Making Obama’s Legacy Extinct).
MAGA and MOLE go together, like white on rice. Can’t have one without the other.
SCOTUS would have to overrule its precedent.
And it loves precedent. Not happening. Its dead, Jim.
Obamacare was so unpopular Democrats lost the House because of it. They have short memories.
And to think the dems destroyed affordable health care to pass the obummercare monstrosity.
Yep; the left/dems/progressives/marxists/etc destroys everything it touches. Everything.
Another promise kept. Listening GOPe? No, didn’t think so.
Let them go for the $32 trillion Medicare For All. A winner!
It was invalid even back then under the Unconstitutional Conditions Doctrine, which the Court conveniently ignored. (E.g., if the Congress lacked power to enact the law directly, it couldn’t do so indirectly by subjecting people to a tax or penalty if they didn’t comply. (California Coastal Commission v. Nolan) But now there is truly no basis for the law.
Let Democrats try to reenact it. Oh wait - they dont have the Senate and they dont have Obama.
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